Fifth-ranked Northwestern squeaks by fourth-ranked Duke 12-11

DURHAM, N.C. -- In a game in which neither team led by more than a goal until nearly two-thirds of the way through, Northwestern broke out for a 4-0 run midway through the second half and held on for a 12-11 win against Duke on Saturday at Koskinen Stadium in Durham.

The win was the second one-goal win against top-10 ranked ACC opponents to open the season for NU, which also downed No. 8 Virginia 13-12 on Feb. 9. Northwestern has now defeated Duke in 11 consecutive meetings dating to the 2006 campaign.

Sophomore midfielder Kaleigh Craig led Northwestern with a career-best four goals, surpassing her previous career high of two set in the season opener versus Virginia. Senior Alyssa Leonard corralled seven first-half draw controls and finished with 13 on the game, two shy of her career best and NCAA record-tying 15 set last year at Southern California. Leonard, who also scored two goals on the day, passed her former assistant coach Hillary Fratzke (Towson, 2006-10) for third on the NCAA career draw controls record list and now has 329.

Senior Kat DeRonda also chipped in a hat trick to aid the Wildcats attack.

The Tar Heels (4-0) jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes. UNC then let the Commodores (2-2) back in the game at 8-6 late in the first half before blowing things open with five consecutive goals in the final 3:05 before the break. Carolina also scored nine of the first 10 second-half goals to take a commanding 21-7 lead it would not relinquish.

Friend scored a career-high six goals and George scored a career-high five times, while Holman tied the UNC school record with six assists while also adding a goal. Holman assisted on four of George's five goals, and Holman's six assists matched the program single-game record set by Amy Fine versus Boston College on March 4, 1997.

Junior Sarah Scott set a school record by controlling nine draws. The previous high of eight was set by Kristen Carr against Richmond on Feb. 22, 2009.

The Tar Heels got three goals from Carly Reed, two goals and one assist from Aly Messinger, two goals from Molly Hendrick and a goal and two assists from Sam McGee. Maggie Bill and Paige Hanson each added single goals for UNC.

The Commodores got two goals each from Alexa Kunowsky, Abby Wheeler and Emma Dagres and a goal and an assist from Mallory Schonk.

In addition to Griffin’s seven scores, Beth Glaros added a hat trick and Kristen Lamon, Erin Collins, Kelly McPartland and Taylor Cummings chipped in with one tally each. Clipp’s 21 saves is three stops shy of the Terrapin record held by Denise Wescott in 1977 which was also against the Nittany Lions.

Collins led the Terps with five draw controls and Glaros and freshman Zoe Stukenberg posted three each.

No. 19 Towson 14, No. 9 Georgetown 10

WASHINGTON -- Georgetown (1-1) suffered a tough 14-10 loss to Towson (2-0) on Saturday afternoon at Unitas Stadium. The Tigers took an early 6-0 lead and it was too much for the Hoyas to overcome.

The Tigers came out fired up opening with a quick 6-0 run spanning the first seven minutes as the Hoyas were unable to counter. Sophomore attacker Corinne Etchison stopped the bleeding with a goal from freshman attacker Colleen Lovett at 18:43, but the Tigers answered with two more to make it 8-1 with 4:53 remaining in the half.

The Hoyas ended the first with a 3-0 run including goals from junior attacker Caroline Tarzian and two from senior midfielder Kelyn Freedman to make it 8-4 at the break.

Georgetown cut it to three to open the second as senior attacker Meghan Farrell scored just two minutes in, but Towson answered with a 3-0 run to make it 11-5.

Tarzian hit a free position at 14:45, but once again the Tigers had an answer with two scores of their own.

Towson finished out the game with one more at 3:27. Despite a pair of late Hoya tallies, Towson was able to hold on for the 14-10 victory marking GU's first loss of the 2014 season.

No. 10 Loyola Maryland 15, No. 17 Princeton 10

BALTIMORE -- Sophomore Molly Wolf recorded her second consecutive double-digit save game to lead Loyola Maryland to a 15-10 win against Princeton in the team's home opener Saturday afternoon at Ridley Athletic Complex.

Wolf anchored the defense by turning back 11 shots, marking her fifth career double-digit save game, while Loyola (2-0) had eight Greyhounds net goals on offense, including three with hat tricks.

Senior Marlee Paton, junior Hannah Schmitt and junior Annie Thomas contributed three goals each, while Thomas tacked on two assists for a game-high five points. Junior Kara Burke added two goals, junior Taryn VanThof had one goal and two assists, junior Molly Hulseman had one goal and one assist and senior Ali Habicht and sophomore Maddy Blakeman rounded out the scoring with one goal each.

For Princeton (0-1), Anna Doherty and Sarah Lloyd led the way with three goals each.